Biomedical subjects

Sabine Moritz

Publications and source records attributed to Sabine Moritz.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Mental disorders and reasons for using complementary therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To compare patients with and without mental disorders who seek services from a complementary therapy practitioner with regard to quality of life, reasons for seeking complementary therapies, complaints, and physical conditions. METHOD: We studied new patients who attended a complementary therapy clinic offering acupuncture treatment between July 1, 1993, and March 31, 1995. We collected data from a self-administered questionnaire and from a physician-conducted psychiatric assessment. RESULTS: Of the 826 new patients at the clinic, 578 (70%) presented with a mental disorder. Patients with a mental disorder perceived their quality of life as poorer and reported greater levels of stress than did those without a mental disorder. However, the groups did not differ in their self-reported reasons for seeking complementary therapies, in their complaints, or in their physical conditions. Among patients with a mental disorder, the major reasons for choosing complementary therapies were personal preference, interest, or belief in complementary therapies (44.3%) and perceiving complementary therapies as a last resort (30.7%). Most patients with a mental disorder saw a complementary practitioner for musculoskeletal and connective-tissue disorders (44.1%), fatigue (26.6%), and headache (15.2%). The most frequent physical illnesses among patients with a mental disorder were diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue (42.6%). CONCLUSION: Like their counterparts without a mental disorder, individuals with a mental disorder use complementary therapies because of personal beliefs. The wide use of complementary therapies among individuals with a mental disorder may be ascribed to a poor quality of life and high levels of distress.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

PubMed2002

Meta-analysis of rates of erectile function after treatment of localized prostate carcinoma.

PURPOSE: The results of a 1997 meta-analysis of the rates of erectile function after external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and radical prostatectomy have been widely used in patient and professional education materials and as a reference against which new findings are compared. With a number of recent publications, it is now possible to update this analysis and compare brachytherapy with or without EBRT with EBRT alone, standard and nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy, and cryotherapy. METHODS: A comprehensive literature review and subsequent meta-analysis of the rates of erectile dysfunction associated with the treatments of localized prostate carcinoma was conducted. A simple logistic regression analysis was used to combine the data from the 54 articles that met the selection criteria. RESULTS: The predicted probability of maintaining erectile function after brachytherapy was 0.76, after brachytherapy plus EBRT 0.60, after EBRT 0.55, after nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy 0.34, after standard radical prostatectomy 0.25, and after cryotherapy 0.13. When only studies reporting > or = 2 years follow-up were considered, the only significant change was a decline in the probability for nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy. No brachytherapy studies had a follow-up of > or = 2 years. When the probabilities were adjusted for age, the spread between the RT methods and surgical approaches was greater. CONCLUSION: The differences in the probability of maintaining erectile function after different treatments of localized prostate cancer are significant.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A home study-based spirituality education program decreases emotional distress and increases quality of life--a randomized, controlled trial.

CONTEXT: Although epidemiological studies have reported protective effects of religion and spirituality on mental health, it is unknown whether spirituality can be used as an intervention to improve psychological well-being. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a home study-based spirituality program on mood disturbance in emotionally distressed patients. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A non-blinded, randomized, wait list-controlled trial of 165 individuals with mood disturbance [score of >40 on the Profile of Mood States (POMS)] were recruited from primary care clinics in a Canadian city between August 2000 and March 2001. INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to a spirituality group (an 8-week audiotaped spirituality home-study program), a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction group (attendance at facilitated classes for 8 weeks), or a wait-list control group (no intervention for 12 weeks). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes were mood disturbance, measured using POMS, and quality of life, measured using the SF-36, a short-form health survey with 36 questions. The POMS and the SF-36 were completed at baseline, at 8 weeks, and at 12 weeks. RESULTS: At the end of the 8-week intervention period, the mean POMS score improvement was -43.1 (-45.7%) for the spirituality group, -22.6 (-26.3%) for the meditation group, and -10.3 (11.3%) for the control group (P<.001 for spirituality vs control group; P=.034 for spirituality vs meditation group). Mean improvement in the SF-36 mental component summary score was 14.4 (48.6%) for the spirituality group, 7.1 (22.3%) for the meditation group, and 4.7 (16.1%) for the control group (P<.001 for spirituality vs control group; P=.029 for spirituality vs meditation group). At 12 weeks, POMS and SF-36 scores remained significantly different from baseline for the spirituality group.

Adult↗